Sri Lanka’s President Ranil Wickremesinghe. File
| Photo Credit: Reuters

Sri Lanka’s Supreme Court on Thursday (August 22, 2024) found President Ranil Wickremesinghe guilty of “arbitrary and unlawful” conduct, in the postponement of local body elections scheduled last year, even as he campaigns hard for a mandate in the September 21 presidential contest.

President Wickremesinghe rose to the island nation’s top office in July 2022, not winning a national election, but through an extraordinary parliamentary vote. He replaced President Gotabaya Rajapaksa, who fled the country and resigned amid mass protests triggered by a severe financial meltdown.  

While local government elections were due soon after — they would have given citizens a say after the country’s economy crashed — the Wickremesinghe administration maintained it could not afford to spend on an election amid urgent efforts towards economic revival.  The elections to Sri Lanka’s local authorities, scheduled to be held in March 2023 and later April 2023, were postponed. The Election Commission said reasons for the move were “beyond” its control and Mr. Wickremesinghe, who is also Finance Minister, came under sharp attack for “blocking funds” needed for the election.

The government’s position coincided with painful austerity measures, including a steep rise in indirect taxes, introduced by the government as part of its International Monetary Fund-led programme aimed at recovery. Crisis-hit citizens, who were reeling under the impact of high living costs, growing poverty, and joblessness, came under greater pressure.

Opposition politicians and rights groups filed multiple Fundamental Rights petitions in the Supreme Court, challenging the government’s position that they said violated the Constitution. A five-member bench led by Chief Justice Jayantha Jayasuriya on Thursday (August 22, 2024) directed the Election Commission to hold the local government election “at the earlier possible”, while holding the “executive branch” liable for the infringement of citizens’ fundamental rights.

The ruling comes at a time when Mr. Wickremesinghe is appealing to Sri Lankan voters to back him, so he can continue his “economic reform” agenda. He faces strong opponents in Leader of Opposition Sajith Premadasa and Leader of the Opposition National People’s Power alliance Anura Kumara Dissanayake, who are fierce critics of Mr. Wickremesinghe’s policies.

President of Sri Lanka Ranil Wickremesinghe.
| Photo Credit: PTI

Sri Lankan President Ranil Wickremesinghe will contest the Presidential election as an independent candidate, his aide said on July 7.

Deputy Chairman of the United National Party Ruwan Wijewardene confirmed that the presidential election will definitely be held and Mr. Wickremesinghe, 75, will contest the election as an independent candidate, News 1st reported.

“Only one leader possesses the knowledge to solve Sri Lanka’s economic crisis. That is Ranil Wickremesinghe. He has proved it with his actions,” he was quoted as saying by the news portal.

On July 7, Election Commission Chairman R.M.A.L. Ratnayake said the electoral body would be legally empowered after July 17 to announce the date for the election.

Mr. Ratnayake added that the commission will announce the date for the next presidential poll before the end of this month.

The Election Commission in May said the presidential election would be conducted between September 17 and October 16.

Mr. Ratnayake said the commission is currently in the process of putting final touches to the 2024 electoral register which will be the basis for the election. Over 17 million would be eligible to vote in the election as per the revised list, officials said.

In April 2022, the island nation declared its first-ever sovereign default since gaining Independence from Britain in 1948. The unprecedented financial crisis led President Gotabaya Rajapaksa to quit office in 2022 amid civil unrest over his inability to handle the crisis.

In July 2022, Mr. Wickremesinghe was elected through parliament to become stop-gap President for the balance term of Mr. Rajapaksa.

Mr. Wickremesinghe, also the Finance Minister, hasn’t made any public statement on his bid for re-election.

“This election isn’t merely about selecting individuals but about choosing the most effective system for our country’s progress. If you believe in the merits of the current approach, let us proceed accordingly,” the President’s Media Division quoted him as saying earlier.

The government under Mr. Wickremesinghe has set in place hard economic reforms as dictated by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) programme.

President Wickremesinghe last month said that his government has finalised a long-delayed debt restructuring agreement for $5.8 billion with its bilateral lenders, including India and China, in Paris to meet a key condition of an IMF bailout.

Colombo:

Bankrupt Sri Lanka’s economic recovery was “not yet assured”, the International Monetary Fund warned Wednesday, after the first review of its $2.9 billion bailout aimed at restoring the island’s finances.

The Washington-based lender of last resort said Sri Lanka had been unable to meet its revenue targets and ensure growth although it had tamed runaway inflation.

“Despite early signs of stabilisation, full economic recovery is not yet assured,” the IMF said.

Sri Lanka’s census office said inflation this month dropped to an eight-year low. Year-on-year inflation of 1.3 percent in September was healthier than August’s 4.0 percent and well below the soaring 69.8 percent when prices peaked a year ago.

Last year’s economic crash sparked dire food, fuel, and medicine shortages, as well as months of civil unrest that eventually toppled then-president Gotabaya Rajapaksa.

His successor Ranil Wickremesinghe has raised taxes and removed energy subsidies, but the IMF said state revenue was still below expectations.

An IMF delegation wrapped up their two-week mission to Sri Lanka without an announcement on releasing the second tranche of $330 million. 

Colombo had expected that funding to be signed over at the end of the latest talks. 

However, the IMF said it was still reviewing “financing assurances” from external creditors on restructuring Sri Lanka’s bilateral and private debt.

Colombo is in discussion with its private creditors to restructure Sri Lanka’s international sovereign bonds, after defaulting on its $46 billion foreign debt in April 2022.

Talks are underway with bilateral lenders and part of the domestic debt has already been restructured.

China, which accounts for 52 percent of the island’s bilateral debt, has not made its position on restructuring public but has agreed to support Colombo.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

People queue up to buy kerosene for domestic use at a supply station in Colombo on May 26, 2022.
| Photo Credit: AFP

Sri Lanka has formally announced an end to the fuel rationing scheme imposed one year ago during the height of the unprecedented economic crisis, a senior minister said on Friday, hinting at an improvement in the island nation’s economy.

Energy minister Kanchana Wijesekera said the QR-based fuel rationing system, imposed in August 2022, when Sri Lanka plunged into its worst economic crisis since 1948, would be discontinued from Friday.

Under the rationing system, registered consumers at filling stations were guaranteed a weekly quota.

Sri Lanka announced its first-ever sovereign default in April 2022 and faced its worst economic crisis in history due to a shortage of foreign exchange reserves.

The unprecedented forex shortages meant that the imports of fuel and essentials became harder, causing miles-long queues.

Also Read: India to increases grants by 50% for community development projects in Sri Lanka: Official

More than 20 people died from exhaustion at fuel queues when the rationing began.

The QR-coded rationing system came into effect in August last year.

It was priced to be an instant success, with queues disappearing with the demand dropping.

The authorities then blamed stockpiling as the reason for long queues leading to an unscrupulous black market.

Cash-strapped Sri Lanka was then solely dependent on Indian supplies of fuel through an Indian credit line. The Indian credit lines for fuel and essential imports provided relief to the public protesting against the government for its mishandling of the nation’s economy.

The forex crisis hampered the state oil entity Ceylon Petroleum Corporation’s (CPC) ability to pay for oil imports.

The Lankan subsidiary of the Indian Oil Corporation (IOC) was running continuous supplies as the pumps of the state fuel entity ran dry.

Since then, the Sri Lankan government’s urgent reform measures in the power and energy sector saw the third player, Chinese Sinopec Oil, enter the retail market.

Sinopec coincidentally started its retail operations this week.

In March, the International Monetary Fund extended a nearly USD 3 billion bailout facility to debt-ridden Sri Lanka to help stabilise the country’s economy after it was jolted by the devastating economic crisis last year.